PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 7:11-28

11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.

13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.

15 And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek,

16 who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.

17 For it is attested of Him,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness

19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

20 And inasmuch as it was not without an oath

21 (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,

“The Lord has sworn

And will not change His mind,

‘You are a priest forever’ ”);

22 so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

23 The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,

24 but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;

27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

“Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?” The preacher now brings up Aaron because it was through Aaron’s sons that the high priest would come. With Aaron came a narrowing of the priest. But why does God call for another priest to arise if the priesthood of the Law was sufficient? There should not long be any need of another priesthood. “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” This shows that there was a weakness in the first priesthood.

“For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.” The preacher is clear on where he is going. He is not trying to hide his message until the end and then bring everything out. We know that He has been talking about Jesus this whole time and he is making an argument for why He can be a priest even though He is not of the tribe of Levi or Aaron, for He is of the kingly tribe of Judah as a son of David. “And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.” Thus, here is a greater priest, one better than the Levis, because His priesthood is not based on a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life—a priesthood that cannot be ended by death. “For it is attested of Him, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” What we have not is an eternal priest.

“For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” Thus, God, by chosen plan, has set aside the former commandment in order to establish the new. What we must be very careful in doing here is not misunderstanding the plan and nature of God. God is completely perfect and so is His will. All the weaknesses of the old were there from the beginning and made that way for a reason. The Law made nothing perfect because it was never designed to. Instead of the Law was given as a sign, a type of something greater to come. And because of the Law and no being able to better see the new commandment through it we have a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”

“And inasmuch as it was not without an oath (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever’”); so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” So just as the former priest received their position of honor by a oath, so has Jesus. He has not taken this position, but it has been given to Him by the Lord God. The Lord God made the oath, “You are a priest forever”, and the Lord God will not change His mind. The Lord God never changes His mind. Everything is worked out according to a great and mighty plan and because of that Jesus who has received an eternal promise has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

“The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” In the old priesthood, there were numerous priests because they kept dying. But Jesus has been made a priest according to an indestructible power. Thus, He is our priest now and forever, holding His position permanently. And because He is our priest forever, we do not need to look for another, because if we draw near to God through Him, He will save us forever because He always lives and is always able to intercede for us.

“For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.” For it was fitting, it was good for us, it is better for us to have a high priest who is not like normal men, but holy and separate from and greater than us, innocent in that He has no need to suffer, undefiled by the sin of this world, and separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens because He does not need to act like the priest of old who offered up sacrifices day in and day out for His own sin and then for the sins of the people, because He is righteous in that He has no sin and He offered up the perfect and only sacrifice able to save a sinner from the wrath of God—Him Self. The Law appoints men of weakness, but the oath appoints a Son who has been made our perfect sacrifice forever.

How great is this God who gave us the Law and let hundreds of years pass by under it, knowing that it has no possible way of saving anyone, only to use it as an example of what was to come in His Son who would suffer the full wrath of God for us if we draw hear to God through Him. And God did this for our good, so that by it we can better understand the death of our Lord and thus have a greater confidence in Him who made it, that He is for us, interceding before the Father. All praise be to the Father for the Law which gives knowledge and for His Son which gives life.

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 7:1-10

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

4 Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.

5 And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.

6 But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

8 In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.

9 And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes,

10 for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

Now let us consider “this Melchizedek” from who’s order comes the priesthood of our high priest Jesus (Hebrews 6:20). He is “king of Salem, priest of the Most High God”. What we have here is a king-priest. Discussed in verse three, we have no account of this man’s origin, but we are simply told that he is a priest of the Most High God and the king of Salem. Now he “met Abraham as he [Abraham] was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him”. So we have Abraham, the great patriarch and father of Israel returning from the slaughter of the kings, which was the battle he made against the kings in saving his nephew Lott. While Abraham was returning from the battle with all of his spoils he runs into Melchizedek and Melchizedek blesses him. Not only was Abraham blessed by Melchizedek, but “Abraham apportioned a tenth of all the spoils to him. So here is the greatest figure in Israel’s history paying a tenth to this unknown figure. And so all we know about Melchizedek is that he is king of Salem and priest of the Most High God and “by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.”

Verse three shows this even more fully in that Melchizedek is “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” Now this verse is not meant to make us think more highly of Melchizedek than we do of Christ. Let not our minds run off course from where the preacher is taking us. Melchizedek is not an angel, not the pre-incarnate Christ, not anything else, but he was the king of Salem and a priest. The reason for the preacher’s language is to show greatness of Christ’s priesthood. Notice that Melchizedek is made like the Son of God, not Jesus like Melchizedek. The preacher is simply showing that Melchizedek did not gain his priesthood from the Law or any other fleshly rule, but was made a priest by God and we need not ask any more questions.

“Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choice spoils.” Here is the patriarch, the father of the whole nation of Israel, the greatest man of their history and the one on whose promise they seek their salvation in; and here he is paying a tenth to some unknown character that shows up out of nowhere. Now the law is on who is to collect a tenth from the people. It is “those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest’s office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descendents from Abraham. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.” What we have here is confusing. How can this man, who is not of the sons of Levi, who has not received the appointment by the Law, receive tithes from Abraham, the father of Levi? The preacher doesn’t wish to deal with that and for us to try and discover some secret knowledge would be both a waist of time and bring nothing but fallacies to our thinking. Rather, the preacher is making the point that “without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.” The preacher has made his point—Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Now what does this mean?

“In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.” The preacher again wants to greaten our understanding of Melchizedek by showing that he received a tithe, not based on the law of mortal men, but on the premise of one who lives on. Melchizedek is not with strained by a lack of genealogy. But rather, this lack of genealogy is superior, because Levi, the one who receives a tithe from his brothers, paid a tithe to Melchizedek while in his fathers loins. The Melchizedikian order is superior to the Levitical order and it is seen and true because Levi paid a tithe to the one greater than himself.

Now we need to make sure that we are not loosing focus of what the preacher is really trying to stress here. He isn’t trying to build up Melchizedek for the sake of making Melchizedek look better. Rather, he is building him up and the order of His priesthood to make Christ look better. Christ is the one who is coming into that order and the one who is greater than that of the Levis. The New Covenant priesthood is better than the Old. That is what the preacher is trying to stress here and we cannot loose focus of that.

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 6:13-20

13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.”

15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,

18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

“For when God made the promise to Abraham” in Genesis 12, God promised to bless and multiply him making him a great nation. He promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation even though Abraham had no children of his own. And since God “could swear by no one greater” than Himself, since He is the supreme of all things and above all things, He “swore by Himself.”

We need to take a few seconds to just step back from this and look at what the preacher has said. Let our hearts not pass over this without thinking deeply on the greatness of God he wishes to express. Here is a God that stepped down into the realm of earth to communicate with a man named Abraham and make promises to him for no purpose or reason outside of Himself. God did this out of His complete freedom. And He promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation. Abraham did not deserve this. Abraham was a pagan who was an enemy of the living God until the God of the universe called him. After He called him, God promised Abraham and swore to him by Himself since He can swear by no one greater because He is the greatest. The God who communicates to man and makes Himself known is the one and only living God who transcends above all creation.

“And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.” Abraham, though he had not received the promise when God made it, nor did he have a son to fulfill the promise given by God, he “patiently waited” and obtained the promise when God chose to fulfill it in His timing. Now, when a man wishes to end an argument he gives his word with an oath. By this the argument is ended because confirmation is given. “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable of His purpose, interposed with an oath”. Not only has God given His word in a promise to bless Abraham, He gave an oath to show that the promise was unchangeable. “So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

In Genesis 22:16 the angel of the Lord said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars in the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” God, having made the promise then chose to swear by Himself, making an oath, so that by two things that cannot be changed, the promise and oath, because God cannot lie make our confidence unshakeable. Therefore we who have taken refuge in this promise and oath have strong encouragement to take hold of, to cling to and trust in, because of the hope set before us that we are in the promise given to Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant is the source of our refuge and strength because we believe that God is faithful.

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” We can claim the Abrahamic covenant because we have Jesus who has entered in as a pioneer, our forerunner, for us. He entered within the veil, that is He has passed into the heavens and into the presence of God and has become our high priest interceding for us forever, never to be replaced, according to the order of Melchizedek. A new order that has replaced the old and one that is everlasting.

We continue to see the preacher of Hebrews stress the point that God is a God of communication; He is the God who spoke and continues to speak and desires to make Himself known. He has done this by making a promise and oath to Abraham and He continues to do this by speaking through His Son who has entered into the heavens and intercedes for us as our high priest forever. Because of this we should take strong encouragement. God made the promise to Abraham and has kept it fulfilling it in Christ by His death and resurrection. Why, after having such a great hope should we fall away? All praise to the God who has spoken and been faithful to the end, amen.

My Pastor's Birthday Video for His Wife

What Does God Think About Missionaries?

John Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

I watched this video and was driven to tears. I pray that it would impact you as it has me. May we live with Christ as our treasure and God as our joy and turn away from the things of this world and suffer that we might live for His glory and for the joy of the nations.

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 6:4-12

4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance”. This is one of the most challenging text in the Bible to interpret because of difficult and uncommon language that seems to contradict what all else of Scripture teaches. But when we take a closer look at the text and chose not to take it out of the whole of the book of Hebrews we see that it fits beautifully into the main theme and focus of the author. The author of Hebrews is continuing to stress the importance of the spoken Word of God and our need to remain faithful to Him who has spoken that this warning really wrenches tight the severity of his message.

First, we must discuss the one the author is speaking of here. Notice that throughout the book the author speaks in first and second person. “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God”, ‘let us press on to maturity”. But here the author uses third person language. Why the difference? When he speaks to the readers of this book he is speaking to those who are of the faith and within the community. He is speaking to those he assumes to be believers. But here he is making reference those who are not true believers and this is seen by the fact that these leave the faith even though experiencing what appears to be great experiences.

Secondly, we cannot divorce chapter six from chapter three. This is all one book written by one author for one purpose. In chapter three he gives two conditional statements to who believers are. “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope until the end” (3:6). Even more convincingly is 3:14 where “we have become partakes of Christ [presence tense] if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end”. What the author of Hebrews stresses is we are “Christians” if we persevere to the end. If we don’t persevere to the end it shows that we were never really Christians in the beginning. Thus Hebrews echoes that language of 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

We do not want to use John to interpret Hebrews, but it is reassuring to see that the two authors agree on this stance. Now that we have a clear understanding of what the author understands in regard of holding fast to the faith we can look closer at the text at hand. What does it mean to be enlightened, having tasted of the heavenly gift, having been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come? Since these individuals are not believers these must be understood as being experienced in the context of the community of God and not personally in their own lives or in the spiritual sense. They have been enlightened in that they have seen and understood the truth. They have tasted and been partakes with the Holy Spirit in that they have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit within the community. As the Holy Spirit worked within the community they were there experiencing many of the outward signs of it. They have tasted the good word of God, having heard it and believed it, but not trusting in it. This should be understood as someone who believes something is truth, but not to the extent that it affects their lives. The belief the Bible speaks of is one that calls people to live life differently; any belief less than that is a non-saving belief. Lastly they have tasted the powers of the age to come. They have seen the power of God working by the Spirit through the people of God. Yet, even through all of this, the people did not place a saving, life changing faith, in the Son of God.

Then the preachers of Hebrews gives the punch, if professing believers experiences these things “and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” The person who is brought so near to the work of the Spirit and the grace of God and professes to believe and be apart of the community, and then falls away can never be brought back into the fellowship of the people of God. For if they were to come back it would be like hanging the Son of God on the cross again and making Him be the laughing stock all over again. Christ is no longer the humbled man, but is the exulted king and will never again be the object of shame again. This verse does not teach that there will be people who backslide and then try to come back to Christ but He will not let them, but rather, the Father will never draw them to Christ again so as to protect the validity of the Son’s name. This is seen most clearly in the land that receives the rain so that it might bring forth good vegetation, but when it brings up thorns and thistles it is burned up because it is worthless.

The author of Hebrews has just given the harshest warning in the whole book, and then immediately transitions into a warm encouragement to those he loves, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.” He says, “Beloved, we don’t consider you to be like these people mentioned above. We have confidence in all of you. We are just concerned for you. We don’t want you to fall away. We don’t want you to lose your hope. We want you to stay faithful. We want you to listen and pay attention to what the Lord has said. We do this for your good, not to make you worry and feel unsure. We do this so that you will have confidence in Him, that as you stay with Him you are encouraged along the way.”

“For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” Notice the last things the author stresses, “still ministering to the saints.” He is confident in them because they are continuing. He isn’t saying that should have confidence because they once did some good things, but because they still are. Therefore continued faithfulness is where we gain our assurance that we are His. Thus he says, “we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Here he gives them the reason why he wants them to be students of the Word, so they can realize the full assurance of hope. Without understanding who Christ is and what He has done our faith in weak and he is concerned that if we don’t strengthen it we will fall way. So don’t be sluggish, but follow the example of those who went before you and through faith and patience, remaining faithful to the end, inherit the promises of God given to His people.

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 5:11-6:3

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do, if God permits.

“Concerning Him we have much to say”, for there is much to be said about Him. He is the great high priest and the Son of the living God. Neither this book nor all the books written can fully capture all that can be said about Jesus. For He is infinite in all ways, especially in His person and His work. “And it is hard to explain these things” for they are rich with meaning. I knowledge of Him is greater than our minds can fathom. The joys of the heart are rich with the person who begins to sense who He is, yet understands how weak his knowledge of Him is. “But these things are even more difficult to explain “since you have become dull of hearing.” You have lost the sense of joy in knowing Him more fully and thus you have become ill equipped in your pursuit knowing Him more. Your mind has become slow and not ready for the great things of God.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God”. You should be full of the wisdom of God by now. When it comes to the Word of God revealed in the Old Testament you should be so well equipped with logic and reason to how they reveal the Son of God people should be coming to you seeking this great learning. You have had so much time to study the Law and the Prophets that there should not be an unstudied word within it. Yet, you still need someone to teach them to you. The things that are so elementary you still don’t understand. Oh, why are you so slow to learn? Why do you not heed to the Word of God spoken by the angels? Give heed to the Word of God delivered by the Spirit of God. For “you have come to need milk and not solid food.” Your teeth are not prepared for the great riches of the Word. Your stomachs will become ill by the solidness of the meat of God’s Word.

“For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.” You are like a baby not yet weaned from his mother’s breast. All you know is milk and you think it is all you need. Like an infant, not only is your stomach not yet prepared, your mind is ignorant to the riches of solid foods. You have yet to come to the knowledge of strength found in the meat of the Word. You know nothing of the energy for service you can obtain in the Word. You think little of the Word and this is seen by the way you show so little attention to it, but in it is the great satisfying taste your soul longs for. Oh, ignorant man, you are truly like an infant.

“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” It is only when the infant becomes a toddler that he is given cereal to eat, but this is still only mushy. But when the child grows older and becomes mature, then he is given solid meat to eat. Only then are his teeth and stomach able to handle the toughness of the solid foods. But you ask, “What is the advantage of this being able to eat solid foods? I have Jesus and that is all I need.” Oh, silly man, do you not know that it is the Word of God that makes you wise? Is it not the Word of God that gives direction to the man’s hearts and desires? Is not the Word of God a light unto our feet? If you want to live a life to the glory of God you must have the Word of God as your guide. It is only through the study of God’s Word that we are able to train our minds to discern good and evil. We like an athlete must practice over and over to become strong and have the endurance we need to finish the race set before us. For us to live for God we must practice over and over by studying the Word of God over and over so that we will know what the will of the Lord is and how we are to serve Him more fully.

“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity”. You are not ready to move on, but we must move on. And not because I will push you, but because God will bring us through together. No infant wants to leave the milk of his mother, but the mother must take away her milk for the good of the child. When the child comes of age she must remove him for her breast and make him eat solid food. Otherwise she would be neglecting her child and so God would be neglecting us if He were to leave us as infants in the Word. So let us press on to becoming mature in the faith.

To do this we must press on, “not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” These things constitute the foundation of our faith and we don’t need to deal with them again. We know that we must repent from the works of evil and the works of the Old Covenant because Christ has come. We know that we do not try to merit our salvation, but we find peace with God through faith toward Him. We are quite aware of the baptism we received when we confessed Christ as a symbol of the baptism of our soul with the Holy Spirit and we know of the laying on of hands as the fellowship of the saints was passed on toward us. And we have no confusion about the resurrection of the dead that will come in the end and then the eternal judgment of Christ, both of the living and the dead. This we all know and we now know we must go on past it, “and this we will do, if God permits.”

The Word of God is our only source of knowledge in this wicked and fallen world. Of those things tangible, it is the only thing in this world that is truly pure. The author of Hebrews challenges us to press on with our Bibles toward maturity. He challenges us to be a people of the Book. Our great God has chosen to be a God of communication (Hebrews 1:1-2) and He has chosen to give us His revelation in Word. We are foolish if we choose to neglect the value of this resource and waste our efforts on less profitable things. If a man offered you a book and within it was the ability to make millions, how many of us would not set it aside. But God gives us a book with eternal life and a life of joy and peace before Him…should we not pay as close attention to it?

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 5:1-10

1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;

2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;

3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.

4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,

“You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”;

6 just as He says also in another passage,

“ You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

“For every high priest from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins”. The high priest was a man, who represented man before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for the sins of man. And “he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness.” Since the high priest is not different from the rest of the people, he himself is a sinner. The only difference is that he is appointed as a representative for all the men. Since he himself is like them in sinfulness and weakness, he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided. As a representative he is not superior to them, but is actually like them. “And because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.” As man’s representative before God he has to make his sacrifices for sins. He offers them for the people of God because of their sin, but he must also offer sacrifices for his own sin. “And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.” Thus, the high priest who represents man before God does not take on honor on his own, but it is given to him when he is appointed by God, like Aaron was, as the high priest of the people.

“So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest”. Christ did not make himself glorious in order to obtain the position of high priest. But He was glorified as high priest with God appointed Him to that work, “but He who said to Him, ’You are My Son, today I have begotten You’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ So Christ did not make Himself glorious as to become high priest, but rather, He was made glorious by the Father who called Him “My Son” and pronounced Him as the high priest of the people “according to the order of Melchizedek”. And not only is He a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, He is the high priest forever. There will never be another high priest because Christ has sit down at the right had of the Father and represents man in the things pertaining to God.

“In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” Even during Jesus’ earthly life He was acting toward God as our high priest. He did not simply become our high priest when He was hung to the cross. He had been declared and anointed high priest before His birth. So even while He was alive on earth He was offering up prayers and supplications for the people with loud crying and tears to the Father. Notice here that the Father was able to save Him from death. The Father was more than capable to have spared the life of His Son, but chose not to. And the Father heard the prayers of His Son because of His piety.

“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” We must be careful in how we think about this, lest we think that Jesus was lacking in knowledge prior to His suffering. Rather, Jesus was coming to a new level of experience in His sufferings. Like in chapter four verse fifteen where Jesus is able sympathize with us because He was tempted like us, so here He is coming to a new level of experience by suffering. And this suffering is not just the normal sufferings of man, but this is referring to His passion where He was beaten, scourged, hung on the cross and suffered the full wrath of God for sins until He gave up His spirit and died. “And having been made perfect”, that is having accomplished the work set before Him and by doing so “He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” The perfect Son of God who had no flaws is now by the act of suffering the perfect sin offering, the perfect Lamb of God so that all who obey Him will have eternal life with His offering of Himself as the source. And He was able to make this sacrifice of Himself “being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Because God has designated Him as a high priest He was able to offer up Himself for our sins. Though He was not of the tribe of Levi, He was called a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek forever so that there is no longer need of a new high priest, because He now sits at the right hand of God, and there is no longer need of another sacrifice because the Son of God offered up Himself.

The church as God’s chosen people should constantly remember their High Priest who suffered and died for their sins. No longer are bulls and goats offered up to cover the sins of the people, only to have to come back the next year to do the same thing. But we have a greater sin offering, the Son of God Himself who as our High Priest forever offered up Himself and bore our sins so that we no longer have to make sacrifices year after year. By His own blood He has covered us and now sits at the right hand of God making intersession for us. How great a high priest we have.

PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

“Therefore”, says the preacher, look to what all he has just told us. Here is Jesus who is above the angels, though made lower for a time, and better than Moses as a Son over the house who Moses was a servant in. We need to pay very close attention to the Son because He is the full revelation of God and if we neglect to hear His voice we have no chance of entering God’s rest. “Therefore since we have so great a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

Oh, holy brethren, we have a high priest who intercedes for us before God. He is the great high priest, who has finally made the offering once and for all. He is the great high priest who offered the perfect sacrifice for sins in the Holy of Holies in the heavens, the tabernacle not made with hands, but by God Himself. And He is the great high priest who is our priest forever, who sits at the right hand of God.

This high priest is Jesus the Son of God and we must hold fast our confession. We must not neglect the word we have heard through Him. We must not neglect the message spoken through Him, lest we fail to enter His rest. We must pay much closer attention to the message, lest we fall away. Oh, may we not let go of our confession and become disobedient and received the wrath and anger of God upon us because of unbelief. Jesus, the Son of God, has passed through the heavens so let us hold fast to our confession.

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Do not miss the gloriousness of this. Rejoice soul, rejoice. The men of old had a high priest who offered up sacrifices year after year, first for his own sin and then for the sins of the people. He understood their weaknesses because he to was weak. But how much greater the Son of God who has passed through the heavens, because He was tempted and yet with sin? Do not think that He is less valuable than the priest of old, because He didn’t sin and therefore can’t understand what we have to go through. Oh, please do not be confused. But He has greater knowledge of our sorrow and weaknesses because He and He alone has suffered the full weight of temptation. No man has lived who suffered greater agony over sin than Jesus. When we are tempted by sin we feel the effects of it on our lives, on our very souls, but we give in so often and the pressure is removed, and we never feel its full blow. But Jesus suffered the full weight of that temptation, having never sinned.

Therefore He is able to sympathize with our weakness because He was tempted in all things just like us, having endured the same temptations that all men share. He can even sympathize with us better than those high pries of old who so often gave into sin like us and never knowing the full pressure of its might. And by this perfect knowledge He calls us to “draw near.”

“Therefore let us draw near” says the Spirit. You have a high priest who waits for you and knows what you are suffering and says to you, “Draw near”. And “let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” because it is our high priest who waits for us. Our high priest who is not ashamed to call us brethren waits for us to draw near. The God who speaks and communicates with us is calling us to draw near. He is calling us to His rest, so do not harden your hearts, but go forth in confidence to the throne of grace.

How beautiful is the sound of “throne of grace”? Not throne of righteousness, though it is. Not throne of holiness, though it is. But throne of grace—“that we may receive mercy and find grace”. He welcomes us to the throne for our good. Though we are wretched sinners, by the perfect, spotless Lamb that was offered in the heavenly tabernacle as a sacrifice for us, we are now shown mercy and given grace. Oh, it is only when we come to the throne of grace that we are given the divine mercy of the God who forgives our sins by Christ work. So come to the throne and find the unmerited gift us love and mercy.

And we are told to draw near to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When we are tempted dear brother, when we have the weight of the world coming at us, when the flesh is twisting in your very body to combat against us and drive us to sin, and when we have the devil waging war against our members, tempting us and trying to draw us away to destroy us, oh, we have full access to the throne of grace in that time of need. When we don’t know if we can suffer the attack and when our spirit is becoming weak, flee to the throne where He who sits was tempted just like you, yet without sin. There we will find our high priest who understands what you are going through, who can sympathize with our weakness to sin, but who never sinned. If there is anyone who can tell us the secrets to victory and give us the grace, the power, we need to endure the battle, it is He who claims victory. No one goes to the king who looses in battle to beg for help, but they go to the king who is victorious. So we must do the same thing, go to the King who reigns and find grace in time of need. For His grace is sufficient to get us through any temptation if we only appeal to the throne.